Didier Deschamps has conceded France have made life difficult for themselves after failing to top Group D but said he is optimistic his team will fully click in the last 16 and that they should treat the knockout stage as “a new competition”. France, two-time European champions, finished second after recording a single victory and failing to score a goal themselves in open play.
Kylian Mbappé’s penalty on his return was not enough to secured victory against the eliminated Poland, with the former Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski equalising from the spot in the 79th minute.
Deschamps admitted he would prefer his team were free-scoring but said they should not panic, despite now being on the same side of the draw as Germany, Portugal and Spain. France will play the runners-up of Group E.
“We will be ready for the round of 16,” the France manager said. “It is a new competition that is starting. You cannot always read a competition just from the group stage. We deserve to be second, I am satisfied.
“Now it [the competition] is going to be a little bit more down to the wire; now we’ve only got the big teams but that is the name of the game. I would be a lot more concerned if we were not creating chances but obviously there is room for improvement. It is a new competition that is starting for us and it will start on 1 July.”
Mbappé shone after breaking his nose in France’s group opener against Austria, which they won courtesy of Max Wöber’s own goal. “Kylian, despite everything that he has gone through, I thought he was quite good on his feet,” Deschamps said. “He needed to get used to it even though when he sweats it stings his eyes, he needed to wipe his eyes. But he is hungry to play and the game will have done him some good.”
Lewandowski’s first penalty was saved by Mike Maignan but the referee, Marco Guida, instructed the Poland captain to retake because the France goalkeeper moved off his line prematurely. Lewandowski’s typical penalty technique is to stagger his run-up and the Poland manager, Michal Probierz, was asked whether he liked that style. “It doesn’t matter how he scores them,” he said. “You cannot tell a player who has scored [more than] 600 goals how to score goals.”
